1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) Artillery.

From freedom's forward boundary in Kosovo, to the mud of Hohenfels, to the wheat fields of Fort Riley, Kansas, the nation's oldest Div Arty, Drum fire Artillery, with it headquarters in Germany, spent the year providing accurate and timely fires to the 1st Infantry Division and the Multi-National Brigade (East).

The year began with the 1-6 FA Centaurs assuming authority to conduct fires in Kosovo from 1-7 FA First Lightning. TF Centaur continued to rewrite artillery TTP in peace support operations, firing in excess of 1,300 illumination rounds in support of the 3d Brigade Combat Team (BCT) and each multinational element of TF Falcon. After redeploying from Kosovo, the Centaurs completed a highly successful Paladin Table XVIII and a BCT rotation at the CMTC.

Upon returning from the Balkans in December 1999, the First Lightning battalion took a well-deserved break and then executed a demanding reintegration plan, including platoon lane training, evaluations and Paladin Table XVIII in a Grafenwoehr gunnery rotation. 1-7 FA then validated its fire support skills in an intense 40-day BCT CMTC density.

Our sister battalion, 1-5 FA Hamilton's Own at Fort Riley, supported operations around the globe, including Stability Force 6 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Ill Corps and Eighth Army's reception, staging, onward movement and integration (RSOI) exercise in Korea. At home, 1-5 FA conducted demanding section evaluations and platoon STXs, culminating the year by validating its first round fire-for-effect capabilities in a battalion gunnery evaluation. On the cutting edge of Division XXI, Hamilton's Own became the first unit in the Army to fully integrate its Striker platoon into the brigade reconnaissance troop.

Our newest battalion, 1-33 FA Golden Lions completed a rigorous year leading the division's transition to Limited Conversion Division XXI (LCD XXI), expanding to 18 launchers and enhancing the division's deep fires capability. In September, the Golden Lions fired their first mass mission as the division MLRS battalion (DMB). 1-33 FA completed its transition in the Victory Interdiction Counterfire Exercise (ICE), which validated the Big Red One's enhanced ability to strike deep.

The Big Red One Artillery is already adding a new chapter to the proud legacy established during the last century. Drum fire!